Overturning skip apparatus



Oct. 9, 1928. 1,687,278

A. ALLEN OVERTURNING SKIP APPARATUS Filed D60- 21, 1926 3 Sheet-Sheet 1Oct. 9, 1928.

A. ALLEN OVERTURNING SKIP APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Shet l nlfenr r AndrewSA/h:n'

it orwg Oct'. 9, 1928.

A. ALLEN OVERTURNING SKIP APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Si jet 3 Filed Dec. 21,1926 Patented Oct. 9, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ANDREWS ALLEN, OF GLENCOE, ILLINOIS,ASSIGNOR IO ALLEN 8c GARCIA COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATIONOF ILLINOIS.

OVERTUBNING SKIP APPARATUS.

Application filed December 21, 1926. Serial No: 156,163.

My invention relates to mining and has particular reference to theconstruction and operation of overturning skips for use in miningoperations, the overturning of the skips being carried out in thetipples.

An object of my invention is to provide a skip hoist so arranged andoperated that the skip will always be returned to the mine shaft inupright position.

Another object of the invention is to provide means whereby a skip maybe emptied nearer the chute than is possible under presentconstructions.

A further object of the invention is to improve skip hoist dischargeapparatus whereby the head room overthe chute in the tipple may bematerially reduced.

Another object of the invention is to arrange a skip hoist wherein aconsiderable portion of the weight of the skip with its lading issustained by the hoisting cable and removed from the skip guides duringdischarge.

A still further object of the invention is to-provide a constructionwhereby as the skip is hoisted, all lateral strains are transferred fromthe guide-ways in the shaft for the cross-head to guide-Ways foroverturning the ski A still further object of the invention is toprovide means permitting over-wind of the hoisting cable Withoutupsetting the skip.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a plurality ofguide-ways adapted for successive engagement in the direction of travelof the skip, and means on the crosshcad and skip body for engaging saidguideways.

Another object of the invention is the provision of discharge apparatuswhich operates smoothly and without shock to the mechan ism and to thehoisting skip, and in which the lading is allowed to slide out of theskip onto a discharge chute instead of being dumped into the chute froma-considerable height, as has been common practice heretofore, resulting in less breakage of the ladingand in less wear to the dischargeapparatus, chute and the like.

Another and further object of the inven tion is the provision ofdischarge apparatus in which the discharge cycle .is materiallylessened, that is, the distance through which the skip is hoisted duringthe emptying thereof is shortened, and at the same time the skip isoverturned sufficiently to allow moved outwardly away from the mineshaft 7 during an intermediate stage of the discharge cycle and tiltedabout the lip as a fulcrum, whereby the lading is moved toward thedischarge portion of the skip, the operation being similar to theemptying of an ordinary coal scuttle at the door of a stove.

Another and yet further object of the invention is the provision ofdischarge appa ratus which will not be damaged in case of overwind of ahoisting mechanism and which sustains and holds the hoisting skip duringthe overwind operation and rights the skip in a proper manner after thedischarge operation has been completed, thereby preventing the skip fromreturning to the mine sha upside down.

The above recited and other objects will be apparent from the followingdescription and drawings and will be particularly pointed out in theappended claims.

Generally speaking I carry out the preferred embodiment of my inventionby providing, in a mine shaft on each side thereof a single guide-way,each of which is engaged by a guide shoe on the ends of the cross-headof the skip hoist and also by guide shoes on the sides of the skip body.These guides are referred to herein as the shaftguides. In the tipple,similar guide-ways are provided for the cross-head, which are parallelto and disposed rearwardly of the shaft guide-ways for engagement byother guide shoes on the cross-head. These other cross-head guides arereferred to herein as the cross-head tipple guides. For guiding andoverturning the skip in the tipple I provide what I term herein skiptipple guides. These are channel shaped comprlsing separate members,such as angle irons, for the channels. There are two such guides on eachside of the tipple for engagement by rollers on the skip as to the mineshaft. These channel guideways are curved in elevation so as to causethe sk1p body to tilt or Overturn as the rollers thereof lll.

en age the proper ti ple guideways and as the? hoisting is continiied.As the skip body is moved into a substantially horizontal position byreason of the engagement of the rollers on the body thereof with thetipple guideways, a projection is engaged by the rear side of the bodyof the upper end of the skip in its overturned position which positionis reached to completely ischarge the contents thereof, which projectionserves as i a fulcrum in case of overwind ofthe hoisting apparatus, andif the overwind is continued, the skip body slides on this projectionpermitting certain of the rollers on the body of the skip to en ageother portions of the guidewa s set at when the hoisting apparatus isowered, the rear or lower end of the skip body will descend first, thuspreventing the'return of the skip body to the mine shaft in upside downor overturned position.

. of certain ofthe tipple guideways showing the skip in two overturnedpositions, and its relation to certain guideways in these positions.

The position shown in full lines being that in full dumping position,while that shown in dotted lines shows the skip in overwind positionafter complete discharge of its lading.

Referring to the drawings and in which like reference characters referto like parts throughout, a hoisting skip body 10 adapted for verticalor substantially vertical movementin a mine shaft is shown. Suitablymounted near the lower end of the skip body 10 is an axle 11 extendingacross the same, to which are'secured outwardly of the sides of the skipbody, the lower ends of a pair of I-bars 12 and 13, which are connectedat their upper ends to a cross head 14, to which the usual hoistingcable 15 is fastened in any approved manner. The cross head 14 has guideshoes 16 and 17 at each end thereof near the front of the cross head,which are adapted to engage shaft guides 18 and 19 seoured to theopposite sides of the mine shaft and which extend longitudinally thereoffrom the bottom to the top of the mine shaft and for a short distanceinto the tipple. At

tion.

each end of the cross head and near the rear thereof are similar guideshoes 37, 38 which engage other vertical or substantially verticalguides mounted in the tipple, i.- e. the cross-head tipple guides, aswill be described more fully hereinafter. The guides 18 and 19 are shownas comprising T-rails, but an suitable design and material may be use siph as commercial shapes or wood and the The skip body 10 is providedwith guide shoes 20, 20 on each of its sides. The guide shoes 20 beingabove the shoes 20 and in vertical alignment therewith. These shoes 20,20 are positioned on one side of the vertical center of the skip body,and in alignment with the guide shoes.16 and 17 on the cross-head forengaging the shaft guides 18 and 19 in the mine shaft to preventoverturning of the skip body 10 whileit is being raised or lowered inthe mine shaft, thus eliminating all other means ,for performing thisfunc- Mounted on the outer ends of'the axle 11 are rollers 21 and 22secured to the axle by lock plates or in any other approved manner, andwhich are adapted to engage a pair of tipple guideways designated as awhole as 23 and 24, after the skip has reached the tipple and just priorto the beginning of the discharge cycle. At the front of the skip body10 and near the upper end thereof are rollers 25 and'26 mounted on stubaxles suitably secured to the skip body 10. These rollersare adapted toengage tipple guideways designated as a whole as 27 and 28, during thedischarge operation. Q

The tipple guideways 23, 24 and 27 and 28 are shown in the drawings aschannel shaped, which is the preferred arrangement. The contouranddisposition of the guideways '27 and 28 are the same, one of each ofthese guideways being mounted on each side of the tipple above the upperend of the mine shaft. This is true also of the guideways 23 and 24.Therefore, in describing these guideways reference will be had toguideway 27 of the pair 27 and 28 and the guideway 23 of the pair 23 and24, mounted on the same side of the tipple. Referring to Fig. 1 of thedrawings it will be noted that the guideway 27 is formed by members 29and 30 which are preferably angle irons. These members 29 and 30 aredisposed in spaced relation to each other and arranged so that the spacetherebetween is uniform from bottom to near the top. At the lower end ofthis guideway the members 29 and 30 are flared outwardly, as at 29 and30 to permit the rollers 25 and 26 on the skip body 10 to enter freely.As shown in the drawings this guideway is for a portion of its lengthsubstantially vertical, then it curves outwardly as indicated. The upperend of the member 30 of this guideway 27 is bent outwardly on a shorterradius than the portion immediately below it with a short substantiallyhorizontal portion 30 and an upstanding end member 32 which serves as astop against horizontal movement of the rollers 25, 26 under certainconditions. The upper end of the member 29 forming the guideway 27 isbent inwardly, as shown at 29", and then outwardly at an angle away fromthe upper end of the member 30 with its upper end portion vertical, theupwardly turned end portion of this member 29 of the guideway 27 beingindicated at 31 and the vertical end portion at 31. The length of thevertical portion 31 is determined by the maximum height to which theskip body is raised under maximum overwind of the hoisting cable 15,this portion being long enough to prevent the roller 26 from disengagingwith this end portion 31 ofthis part of the guideway 27. A stop 29 maybe used to prevent the roller from running out of this guide, ifdesired.

The guideway 23 is constructed similarly to the guideway 27 by members35 and 36 which are preferably angle shaped. The

lower ends of these members are flared outwardly, as at 35 and 36 sothat the rollers 21, 22 on the axle 11 may readily enter.

As will be noted from Fig. 1 of the drawings, the shaft guide 18terminates a short distance above the lower end of the tipple guideways27 and 23. For guiding the cross head 14 in its vertical movementthrough the tipple cross-head tipple guides 39 and 40 are provided whichare parallel to the guides 19 and 20, but disposed to the right orrearwardly of the vertical center of the skip body, as viewed in Fig. 1of the drawings, guide 39 being shown in this figure. The lower end ofthis guide 39 is engaged by the rear shoe 37 on the cross head 14 aslight distance below the upper end of the shaft guide 18 so that as thecross head leaves the shaft guide 18 it will be guided in its verticalmovement by the'tipple cross-head guide 39 and of course by itscorresponding guide 40 on the opposite side of the tipple.

The lower ends of the tipple guides 23 and 27 are so disposed withrelation to the upper end of the shaft guide 18 and the tipple guide 39for the cross head as to bring the rollers 22 and 25 intoengagement withthe guide ways 23 and 27 before the lower guide shoe 20 on the skip bodyhas become disengaged from the shaft guide 19. As long as the guideshoes 20 and 20 on the skip body are in engagement with the shaft guides18 and 19 the skip body cannot tilt or tip out of its vertical position.

The discharge cycle, so called herein, refers to the operation of theskip after the rollers engage the guideways 27 and 23 in the tipple, andafter the skip leaves the shaft guides.

The members 35 and 36 forming the guideway 23 reater portion of the lenth thereof. Then t lese members are curve outwardly on a extendsubstantially vertical for a 7 longer radius than the members 29 and 30of 24, as the skip body is raised to the maximum overwind position ofthe hoisting mechanism. A stop 23 may be interposed in this guideway 23to prevent disenga ement of the rollers, if desired. It will be 0 servedthat by provision of the tipple guideways 23, 24, 27 and 28, the skipbody is positively guided throughout its movement after leaving the mineshaft and until it is returned thereto, irrespective of the position ofthe skip body during the discharge cycle.

The stop 32 in the guideway 27 is so dis-- posed with respect to theguideway 23 that when the roller 25 on the skip body 10 is against thisstop 32, the inclined surface 10 of the skip body will be insubstantially a horizontal position, A chute 33 is disposed so that thelading within the skip 10 may be discharged thereunto as the skip bodyis overturned during the discharge cycle. It will be noted from Figs. 1and 5 that the upper end of the chute 33 may be disposed very near thelip of the skip body 10, thus permitting the lading within the skip bodyto slide onto the chute 33 and not be dropped thereonto as is necessaryin the present type of construction of the skip hoists, where by reasonof the present construction, the skip hoist has to be raised aconsiderable distance above the upper end of the chute in order tooverturn the skip body properly to completely discharge the contentsthereof. Furthermore I have found with the guideways 27 and 23 arrangedin the manner herein described and shown, that as the skip body isturned into substantially horizontal position, a kick is given theretostarting the outflow of the lading in the skip body, as the rollers 25and 26 hit the stops 32.

Fig. 5 shows in full lines the normal dumping position of the skipbody'10 and in dotted lines the maximum overwind position.

For preventing the skip body from going down the shaft in upside downposition, I provide, in addition to the guideways 23, 24 and 27' and 28,a stop 34 which is shown in the drawing as being an I-beam. This issuitably secured to the tipple structure and is adapted to extend intothe skip body when in dumping position, as shown in Fig. 5. If overwindof the hoisting mechanism occurs the rear end of the skip body is raiseduntil a portion thereof rests on the projection 34,

, whereupon the body slides along this projection as a fulcrum, into themaximum overwind position of the hoisting mechanism, in which positionthe rollers 25 and 26 are caused to leave the guide members 30 and passover the gap onto guide members 31 and 31". The dotted line position inFig. 5 is that of the skip body when in maximum overwind position, asheretofore stated. It will be noted from Fi 5, that the maximum overwindposition 0 the skip 10 is but slightly above the dumping position. Thismakes possible the elimination ofexcessive head room in the tipple, withconsequent reduction in the cost thereof.

The 0 eration of the device is as follows:

The s ip hoist including the cross head 14, the sklp body 10 and theI-bars 12 and 13 are raised from the bottom of the mine shaft b asuitable winding mechanism to which the hoisting cable 15 is attached,but which is not shown. During the hoisting of. the skip bod through themine shaft, the front guide s oes on the cross heads 16 and 17 are inengagement with the shaft guides 18 and 19 in the mine shaft, as are theguide shoes 20 and 20*- on the skip body 10. As the ski ascends into thetipple and enters the disc large cycle the cross head guide shoes 16 and17 leave the guides 18 and 19 as the shoes 37 and 38 on the cross headengage the cross-head tipple guides 39 and 40. Further raising of theskip frees the guide shoes 20 and 20 on the body thereof from engagementwith the shaft guides 18 and 19. However just prior to the disengagementof the shoes 20 and 2O on the skip body from the guides 18 and 19, therollers 25 and 26 on the upper part of the skip body engage the guides27 and 28 while the rollers 21 and 22 on the lower part of the skip bodyengage the guides 23 and 24. Thus at all times the skip body is suitablysupported in uideways to prevent or control the tilting of the same.Continued hoisting of the skip body in the tipple will then cause thebody to conform to the guideways 23, 24 and 27, 28, resulting in atilting of the skip body outwardly away from the center line of the mineshaft about the rollers 25 and 26 as a fulcrum, the I-bars 12 and 13pivoting on their connections with the cross head 14 and the axle 11 onthe skip body. As the upper rollers 25 and 26 on the skip body are movedoutwardly through the guides 27 and 28 into substantially horizontalposition, a kick is given to said body by reason of the abrupt bend inthe member 30 of guideways 27 and 28, causing the raising speed of theupper end of the skip body to decrease while permitting that of thelower or rear end to increase. This will cause the lading within theskip body to roll out onto the chute 33. Continued raising of the rearor lower end of the ski body into the full' line position of Fig. 5 W111qu1ckly discharge the contents thereof. When the skip body is in thesubstantially horizontal position above described, the upper rollers 25and 26 will be against the stops 32 on the members 30 of the guideways27 and 28, seatin in the curve between this portion of the gui eway andthe portion 30". The rollers 25 and 26 .then act as a fulcrum for theoverturning of the ski body into'the full line position of Fig. 5. foverwind occurs, then the skip body moves rearwardly, the rollers 25 and26 leave member 30 of the guideways 27 and 28 and engage members 29thereof and the rear edge of the upper end comes to rest against thestop 34, w ich then becomes a fulcrum as the rear or lower end thereofis raised, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5, whereupon the frontrollers 25 and 26are raised clear of the member 30 of the guideways 27and 28 and brought into engagement with the sloping portion 31 of themembers 29 of these guideways. Thus at all times the skip body issupported at three points. In the dumping position, shown in full linesin Fig. 5, the skip body is supported on the front rollers 25, 26, thelower or rear rollers 21, 22 with the guides 23, 24 and the I-bars 12and 13. In

the overwind position the skip body is sup ported on stop 34, therollers 25 and 26 engaging the inclined portion 31 of the member 29 ofthe guides 26, 27 and the I-bars 12 and 13. After com lete dumping thecross head is lowered, w ereupon the front rollers 25, 26 being in thedotted line position in Fig. 5, move across the gap on to the portion 30and against the stop 32 of the member 30 of uideways 27 and 28, aboutstop 34 as a fu crum. Thereupon the skip body fulcrums about the stop 32until the lower end thereof is in substantial alignment with theserollers, whereupon the lower end descends into the mine shaft in properposition, with the skip always in upright position ready to receiveanother load at the bottom of the shaft.

In the overwind position the rollers 25, 26 travel toward the shaft aslight distance and the tilting of the skip is continued until the edgethereof rests on the stop 34 which then takes the weight of the skip. Inlowering the skip from its overwind position, the operation is reversed,the skip retracing the path that was followed, the stop 34 performingthe function of preventing the rollers 25, 26 descending ahead of therollers 21 and 22 on the axle 11 of the skip body 10.

If the bottom of the skip were not moved outwardly, as hereincontemplated, it is apparent that the motion of the skip would beexactly the same as under present conditions up to the point where thedischarge side 1O lies ractically horizontal, at which point thedlscharge of the surcharged lading would be under way. From this pointupwardly, the discharge end of the skip would move rearwardly toward theshaft until the final dumping position were reached approximate- 1 45degrees, at which point the lip of the skip would have retreated fromthechute 33 a distance approximately equal to the length of the dumpingside of the skip. In order to catch the lading as it falls from the skipand to clear the skip as it comes into dumping osition, the dischargepoint must be lowered and brought nearer to the shaft by a veryconsiderableamount. This is the case in overturning skips previouslyconstructed and the result is that the lading falls a considerabledistance onto the chute, which lading thereby sustains breakage andfurthermore the skip must be hoisted much higher above the dischargechute. In my construction both of these disadvantages are avoided by thesingle expedient of having a three point suspension with guides to rsurface of the skip away from the shaft during dumping in such a way asto allow the lip of the skip to remain substantially stationary andnearer the chute 33 while the bottom of the skip is being hoisted andoutwardly tilted to discharge its lading.

The type of skip body here shown has a discharge side 10" inclined at anangle of approximately 30 degrees with the vertical, which'makes itpossible to secure a 45 degree discharge with the rotation of only 105degrees instead of 135 degrees which would be necessary if the skip wererectangular, thus decreasing the necessary hoisting height aibove thedischarge chute because of this act.

While I have described more or less precisely the details ofconstruction of my invention, I do not wish to be understood as limitingmyself thereto as I contemplate changes in form and the proportion ofparts and the substitution of equivalents as circumstances may suggestor render expedient without departing from the spirit or scope of myinvention.

.1 claim:

1. In combination, a hoisting skip, a crosshead, pivotal connectionsbetween said crosshead and said skip, shaft guides adapted to be engagedby said cross-head and said skip during the travel of said skip in theshaft, tipple guides adapted to be engaged by said cross-head during thedumping operation of said skip, a plurality of tipple guides for saidskip and means on said ski adapted to engage the said skip tipple guidesto guide the skip after said skip is freed from engagement with saidfirst mentioned guides, all of said tipple guides for said skip beingcurved outwardly from the shaft.

2. In combination, a hoisting skip, a crosshead, pivotal connectionsbetween said crosshead and said skip, shaft guides adapted to be engagedby said cross-head and said skip as said skip moves through the shaft,tipple uides adapted to be engaged by said cross head during the dumpingoperation of said ing the ski a plurality of tipple guides for the skian means on saidskip adapted to engage tlib said skip tipple guides, thesaid skip tipple guides being curved outwardly from the mine shaftwhereby the skip is given an overturning movement about one of saidguides during the discharge operation. 3. In combination, a hoistingskip suspension means for said skip, a pair of d guides for said skip,rollers on said skip adapted to engage said dumping guides, a secondpair of guides for said skip, other rollers on said skip adapted toengage said second guides, certain of said ides having members extendingupwarcfi y to form tracks for said skip when said skip is hoisted aboveits dumping position, and means artly integral with one of said skipguides or returning said skip to upright position after an overwind. 4.In combination, a hoisting skip, suspension means for said skip, dumpingguides for said skip, rollers on said skip ada ted to engage saidguides, said guides inclu ing spaced inner and outer members, the saidinner members extending upwardly to form tracks for umping ers near theupper end thereof, and other projecting rollers near the lower endthereof, tipple guides for said rollers which have curved port-ions nearthe upper ends thereof, one set of guides for said upper rollers andanother set of guides for said lower rollers,

both of said guides being curved outwardly from the mine shaft andtoward a chute, the curvature of said guides being different and sodisposed, that when the skip is in substantially horizontal position fordischarge, the

distance between said guides is substantially the length of said skip,and one of said guides being formed with an abutment which serves as afulcrum for said skip as the same is overturned.

6. A skip hoist including a skip body having its front face inclined anddiverging from bottom to top, suspension means for said body including across head and bails pivoted to the cross head and the lower part of theskip body, guides engageable by members on said skip for directlng thesame outwardly of the mine shaft and into such position that saidinclined face is in substantially horizontal position, whereupon upwardmovement of the lip of the skip is an abutment which serves as a fulcrumfor said skip as the same is overturned.

7. A ski hoist including in combination with a shaft and a tipple, askip body, a crosshead, connections between said cross-head and said skia single guide in the shaft, means on sai ski body and said cross-headfor engaging said guide, a tipple guide for the cross-head engageablethereby as said head leaves said first guide, a plurality of channelguides in the tipple, means on said skip for engaging said channeluides, said channel guides both being curve outwardly away from saidshaft, one of said guides having a stop which is engaged by said skip onreaching dumping position and which serves as a fulcrum for overturn,said other guides being so curved as to permit overturn of said skipwhile keeping it against said fulcrum.

8. A skip hoist including in combination with a shaft and a tipple, askip, a cross-head, means for suspending said ski from said cross-head,a single guide on eac side of the shaft for en agement by said-head,means on said skip or engaging said guide, a crosshead guide in thetipple parallel to said shaft guide but disposed rearwardly thereof andengaged as said head leaves said shaft guide, a pair of rollers on saidskip near the upper end thereof and a second pair of rollers on saidskip near the lower end thereof, a pair of channel guides in the tipplefor receiving said first pair of rollers, another pair of channel guidesfor receiving said second pair of rollers, the outer member of saidfirst channel guides bein fashioned to provide stops for the upper r0lers to serve as a fulcrum for the overturning of said skip, the othermembers of said first guide being extended upwardly and provided with astop to limit upward travel of said skip in overwind, the said secondguides being curved outwardly toward the chute and then u wardly topermit overwind of the skip wit out causing inward movement of said skiin dumping position, and a stop in sai second pair of guides.

9. In an apparatus of the class described, in combination with a shaftand a tipple, a cross-head, a skip bod connections between saidcross-head and skip-body, a uide in said shaft for said cross-head, a me in the tipple for said cross-head, out o alignment with said firstguide, and engaged by said head as it leaves said first guide, and othermeans in the tipple for guiding said skip into'dumping position.

10. In an apparatus of the class described, in combination with a shaftand a tipple, a cross-head, a skip body, connections between saidcross-head and skip body, a guide in said shaft for said cross-head, aguide in the tipple for said cross-head, out of alignment head as itleaves said first guide, other means in the tipple for guiding said skiping posit1on, said latter uides 'eing curved away from said shaft in t esame direction.

11. In an apparatus of the class described,

in combination with a shaft and a tipple, a cross-head, a skiconnections between said cross-head and said skip, a guide in said shaftfor said cross-head, a uide in the tipple for 'said cross-head out o alinment with said first guide and engageable by said cross-head as itleaves said first guide, other aides in the tipple for guiding saidskip' into umping position, and means on said skip for engagin saidfirst guide while said skip moves in sai shaft. 4

12. In an apparatus of the class described, in combination with a shaftand a tipple, a cross-head, a skip, connections between said cross-headand said skip, a guide in said shaft for said cross-head, a guide in theti le for said cross-head out of ali ment wit said first guide andengageable y said cross-head as it leaves said first guide, tipple uidesin the tipple for guiding said skip into dumping position, means on saidskip for engaging said first guide while said skip moves in said shaft,said tipple guides servin to guide said skip after said skip leaves saifirst ide.

13. In an apparatus of the c ass described, in combination with a shaftand a tipple, a crosshead, means for raising and lowering the crossheadin the shaft, a sklp, means for pivotally suspendin the skip from thecrosshead, a guide in t e shaft, separate means on the crosshead andskip engaging this guide for maintaining both in vertical positionsduring travel through the shaft, the shaft guide terminating at thetipple, separate tipple guides for the crosshead and the skip, and meanson the (prosshead and skip for engaging the tipple gui es.

14. In an apparatus of the class described, in combination with a shaftand a tipple, a crosshead, means for raising and lowering the crossheadin the shaft, a skip, means for pivotally suspendin the skip from thecrosshead, a guide in the shaft, separate means on the crosshead andskip engaging this guide for maintaining both in vertical positionsduring travel through the shaft, the shaft guide terminating at thetipple, a vertical tipple guide for the crosshead, and curved tippleguides for the skip adapted to dump the-skip, and means on the crossheadand skip for engaging the separate tipple uides, before losingguidinggngagement wit the first mentioned shaft 15. In anapparatus ofthe class described, in combination with a shaft and a tipple, acrosshead, means for raising and lowering the crosshead in the shaft, askip, means for pivotally suspending the skip from the crossinto dump- Yvchute, one of said guides being formed with with said first guide, andengaged by said 5 to cooperate to dump the skip, and means on thecrosshead and the skip for independently engaging the several tippleguides, before the 10 orosshead and skip have passed out of engagementwith the shaft guide.

ANDREWS ALLEN.

